Press freedom deteriorated in the first full year of Rupiah Banda’s presidency. Tensions mounted between Banda’s government and the leading independent daily The Post. Politicized criminal charges were leveled at Post staff members concerning the circulation of photos that Banda labeled “obscene” but others saw as a shocking look at a government health-care problem. Ruling party supporters were tied to a series of attacks against The Post and other journalists.

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As the news editor of Zambia’s largest circulation newspaper and a mother to two young children, Chansa Kabwela already has her hands full. For the last four months, however, this 29-year-old journalist was mired in a court case with a peculiarity that made international headlines and sparked a debate on press freedom in this landlocked nation in southern Africa. The case was finally resolved on Monday.

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We issued the following statement after the Lusaka Magistrate Court acquitted Zambian journalist Chansa Kabwela today on pornography charges. The independent daily Post editor was charged with pornography for disseminating photos to several government officials of a woman giving birth in a hospital car park during a nurses strike in June...

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New York, October 15, 2009—The editor-in-chief of Zambia’s largest newspaper was criminally
charged for the second time on Wednesday after running an op-ed critical of controversial
pornography charges against a journalist, according to local journalists and
news reports.

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New York, August 31, 2009--A magistrate inZambia issued a summons today for the entire
editorial staff of the southern African country's largest independent newspaper
to appear in court on Wednesday on contempt charges, according to local
journalists and news
reports. The ruling was prompted by an op-ed commenting on the prosecution
of the paper's news editor.

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In Zambia, the
coming week will mark the anniversary of the untimely death of President
Levy Patrick Mwanawasa. The late president had championed press freedom with
his commitments to reform, and, with his passing, the Zambian media lost an
ally. Worse, the media freedoms gained in recent years are now slipping.